UK Vinyl record sales in 2018 healthy but growth is slowing and streaming grows

In 2018, the BPI reported that 4.2 million records were sold in the UK. This a rise of just 1.6%.

In the same year sales of CDs plummeted by 23% last year, as consumers flocked to streaming services for their music. Just 32 million CDs were sold in 2018 – almost 100 million fewer than in 2008; and a drop of 9.6 million year-on-year.

UK music consumption 2018 by format

Who is making money from music sales?

This graph does not take into account revenue. For example, a vinyl album typically might retail at £15 to £20, a CD £5 to £12. An album on Google Play or Spotify can cost between £5 and £10. The recent growth in UK record shops over the last couple of years is partly underpinned by the higher prices vinyl buyers are willing to pay for records.

While the consumer may be shifting to this type of model, it’s not clear whether it can actually sustain the music industry financially.

One of the major barriers to Spotify’s profitability is the licensing dues it has to pay to music publishers, which eats up a majority of the revenue that it gets primarily from advertising and subscription fees. The company pays for licensing every time a user streams a song, which contributes to the incredibly thin margins.

If they were pitching this in BBC’s Dragon’s Den I doubt they’d get very far.

Artists starting to claim more money

Artists and licence holders themselves are starting to mutiny over the amount of money they are receiving for millions of streams. This also has the potential to harm album sales.

A class action, a combination of the two lawsuits, originally came from David Lowery, a musicians’ rights advocate from the band Camper Van Beethoven, and Melissa Ferrick, a songwriter and owner of a music publishing company.

They each asserted that Spotify had failed to obtain proper licences to songwriters’ work; Ferrick accused them of “wholesale copyright infringement”.

The victory means Spotify will pay $43.5m in cash, with the rest of the $112 million committed to ongoing payment of artist royalties. Judge Alison Nathan, at New York’s southern district court, described the amount as a “significant recovery” for the artists involved (Spotify to pay out $112m in royalties to songwriters)

On a much smaller scale I was at a concert by folk duo Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker and they recounted how their lovely song ‘Something Familiar’ had found its way onto a playlist.

They were delighted to hear it had received millions of plays, however disappointed to receive less than £100 for the privilege.

“I definitely believe the next decade is going to be streaming plus vinyl – streaming in the car and kitchen, vinyl in the living room and the den. Those will be the two formats. And I feel really good about that.”

Vinyl not just for the older music fan

The recent growth in vinyl may not just be confined to 50 somethings indulging in nostalgia, as the top 10 vinyl albums is an interesting mix of all-time classics such as Dark Side of the Moon and Rumours mixed with the latest Arctic Monkeys album and The Greatest Showman movie soundtrack. Unscientifically, 3 out this top 10 are likely to only be bought by the younger music fan.

Artist

Title

1) Arctic Monkeys

Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino

2) Various Artists

The Greatest Showman

3) Fleetwood Mac

Rumours

4) Queen

Greatest Hits

5) Pink Floyd

Dark Side Of The Moon

6) George Ezra

Staying At Tamara’s

7) Nirvana

Nevermind

8) Oasis

(What’s The Story) Morning Glory

9) David Bowie

Legacy

10) Amy Winehouse

Back To Black

The modern music fans are being much more selective about the music they own, and use streaming services such as Spotify to discover music through streaming. Owning a physical product may be a luxury purchase in the future.

See these comments on the BBC article:

I have two young boys (3 and 5) who like to listen to music from my phone/Wi-Fi set up. But they weren’t interested in it until I invested in a vinyl set up a few months ago. The tangible aspect of thumbing through vinyl/CDs means so much more to them. Exciting artwork and observing the vinyl spin etc adds a dimension that streaming can’t offer. And my boys new found love confirms this for me.

One has to move with the times I suppose, but for me nothing beats vinyl for quality of sound. Streaming is convenient and instant, sitting at a laptop for a couple of hours in the evening at weekends listening to Spotify is very gratifying, but the look and feel of a physical record cannot be beaten.

Never understood this streaming nonsense, and I’m not an old fart either as I’m 28 so technically should be of “streaming age”. Give me a CD, Vinyl or Cassette any day. It’s a shame the lack of sales is driving up live gig prices to extortionate levels, pricing out the working class fans as usual.

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All Good Record Shops is a current directory of UK record shops. We do not charge record shops for a listing. If you wish to make a donation to the running costs of this website, please donate below (All Good Record Shops is a trading name of Web Growth Consulting Ltd)

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All Good Record Shops is a current directory of UK record shops. We do not charge record shops for a listing. If you wish to make a donation to the running costs of this website, please donate below (All Good Record Shops is a trading name of Web Growth Consulting Ltd)

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